Coaching and Care of Athletes

COACHING AND CARE OF ATHLETES Ovaltine and milk, made with hot milk in the winter and with cold milk in the summer. If an athlete likes a small cup of coffee or a cup of weak tea after his lunch lam in favour of giving it to him. Tea, of course, will be drunk at tea-time. Then comes the question on which I am sure that American coaches will not agree with me. I do not think that it is altogether a bad thing to allow an athlete in training a glass"of good draught ale with his lunch and a glass of light wine with his dinner at night if he has a liking for and is accustomed to these beverages. Again, I am not opposed to the athlete having a small cup of coffee or a cup of weak tea after his dinner, and I am definitely in favour of giving him a cup of warm Ovaltine and milk, with an Ovaltine rusk or perhaps some bread and butter, when he is actually in bed. Next we will take bread and its kindred foodstuffs. For the English athlete there is dry toast, household bread which is not new, and I like my own athletes to have a certain amount of Ryvita bread. For the Americans I think dry toast, French bread, brown bread, rolls that are not new, and Vienna, rye, and whole– wheat bread are suitable. Butter makes bread palatable, and can, I think, safely be used by most athletes, provided it is not taken in excess, since there are few athletes with a marked tendency to put on flesh when they are in training. The question of the food with which one should commence breakfast is often debated. In.summer I certainly like my athletes to have half a grape-fruit, and in winter I do not think that a small quantity of Quaker oats or oatmeal porridge is at all a bad thing. The American list includes barley foods, bran, corn-flakes, oat– meal, rice (in flakes, puffed, or boiled), and wheat flakes (puffed or shredded). Eggs, I am convinced, should play a considerable part in the dietary of an athlete. Therefore I like my athletes, after they have had their grape-fruit or porridge, to have eggs and bacon, or a plate of cold ham, followed by a boiled egg, or possibly a ham omelette. I am not in favour of giving athletes fish for breakfast, because salted fish, which is a breakfast dish, is, I think, bad for athletes, and boiled fish, which is good for them, is not usually considered a palatable breakfast dish. The principal breakfast dish may be followed by marmalade and butter- with toast. Breakfast for American athletes, as listed by that great coach and trainer Michael Murphy, would consist of one chop or 8 oz. of 114